Desert Wanderings

Hello again! The past two weeks I've been galavanting around Rajasthan, from Jaipur, to Ranthambore, to Jodhpur, to Ajmer.

We arrived in Ranthambore on 2/26, and were pleasantly surprised to be staying at a nice safari lodge (with a pool!). Free time was spent relaxing, playing rook, and playing 500 with a water bottle in the pool. Our main reason for visiting Ranthambore was the prospect of seeing the nature reserve's elusive tiger on a safari. It was fun bouncing around through the forest in large jeeps and seeing some animals, but unfortunately the tiger lived up to its reputation and remained hidden.
The next stop on our Rajasthan journey was the Blue City of Jodhpur. The city is not entirely blue, but from the right angle can legitimately hold the title. Our time in Jodhpur included tours of hillside forts and the Maharaja's palace that had been mostly converted into a 7-star (*******) hotel. We didn't get to walk through all of the palace, but we saw enough to make us jealous.
Out of Jodphur we embarked on a weekendesque trip to Manvar resort. The first night at the resort was spent a ways into the desert at a tented camp. The setting of the camp in the middle of the desert was pretty spectacular. For the evening's cultural night festivities the group got dressed up in traditional Rajasthani garb. Being in such a unique place made this one of my favorite nights of the trip. The following morning began early with a 6:00 AM wakeup call to begin boarding camels. The morning brought enough excitement that getting up was easy. The short camel safari that took place before breakfast led the group up to a distant dune to watch the sunset and back around to the camp. The limited time we spent on the camels was actually okay with me (camels aren't the most comfortable creatures to ride on). In other camel news, the bizarre things I didn't realize they did before this trip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeC5u8ot6Us. Picture that video, but with the camels mouth full of froth. I have to wonder why they don't try do something pretty, like a peacock, as a means of attracting mates. Whatever works...
In the evening, we went on a desert safari, which is much cooler than it sounds. The group split up into several jeeps and basically went offroading all through the desert. Careening over dunes was as exhilirating as an amusement park, in the "Oh no. I might die!" sort of way. Fortunately, we all had very skilled jeep drivers. Along the way we had time for "we look awesome in turbans" photoshoot.

From Manvar we returned to Jodhpur. The next morning we drove to Ajmer, which was essentially a layover location on our trip back to Delhi. After a day of rest and seeing several temples, we completed the journey to our India headquarters. I realize I'm leaving out details from the several days mentioned above, but they simply seemed mostly eventless and paled in comparison to the time we spent in the desert.

It feels good to be back in Delhi. It might seem strange, but it's almost become my home away from home, since we've been here several times before. We'll be here for another couple of days and then will be back on the road. Next stop, Dharmsala and the Dalai Lama!